At Brentwood Metrolink Station: Close Call With a 5-Year-Old Boy on Crosswalk

A trip to the St. Patrick’s Day parade Saturday afternoon had a scary ending for a Kirkwood family.

Matt McClure, originally from Brentwood, took his family to the parade on Metrolink at the suggestion of his five-year-old son, John.

Coming home, they got off at the Brentwood station. As their train continued on to Maplewood and Shrewsbury, they started to cross the walkway with McClure’s son leading the way.

Their train, however, blocked the view of another train coming from Maplewood. It came in fast, and was on them with little warning, he said.

According to McClure, his son had a close call.

“He happened to see us, he hit the horn, I grabbed down, yanked (my son), pulled him back,” McClure said. “He went probably 10 feet past us and came to a stop at that point, but it would have already been too late.”

McClure said they looked before the other train left and saw no other train on the track. He also said nobody heard any horns.

“I just cannot believe we can’t have some sort of signal there, to keep that from ever, ever happening,” he said. “It makes no damn sense.”

Metro Director of Communications Dianne Williams told Patch that trains are not required to sound a horn when coming into a station, only when going through at full speed.

“The lesson in this is that at railroad crossings, even light rail crossings, you need to pay attention while you’re at that crossing,” Williams said.

McClure’s friend, Scott Murphy was a few feet behind them. He said the train was within a second or two of hitting McClure’s son.

“There are signs, but what five-year-old is going to pay attention to those signs?” he said. “For the amount of money it would cost them in a law suit, as opposed to putting some guards in, it’s probably a wise investment.”